


He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

by SetsunaNoroi



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Adam Milligan is a Winchester, College | University Student Sam Winchester, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, Good Parent John Winchester, John Winchester Tries, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, One Night Stands, Protective Dean Winchester, Single Parents, The Winchester Family (Supernatural)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:20:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23649826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SetsunaNoroi/pseuds/SetsunaNoroi
Summary: When a call comes in to inform John about Adam, it's Dean that answers and learns the truth. With Sam away from college John seems happy, even eager, to accept his new son but the eldest is resentful. Is John replacing what he lost? Sam isn't disposable and Dean is out to prove it. The only problem is young Adam is lonely and eager for family, and Dean misses being a big brother.
Relationships: Adam Milligan & Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester & John Winchester & Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester, Kate Milligan/John Winchester
Comments: 22
Kudos: 102





	1. Mother and Child Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This idea just popped into my head and would not leave me alone until I let myself write it. Honestly, I love stories like that. They can really get you hyped up to write, and it's a wonderful feeling to both work on something new and get a refreshed drive to write. Though I will admit flat out, I'm not sure exactly where this will go or how long it will last. Probably going to be something I'm going to need to work on as I go, but for now I have a firm idea of how I want the first few chapters to play out at least.
> 
> So, if anyone has any particular fluff they want to see, feel free to leave a comment and make a request or suggestion. I'm quite open to it.

The amount of different bedrooms Dean had seen in his relatively short life of only twenty-three years was rather staggering. In just under a quarter-century the hunter had been in too many to count, random ones where babysitters put him and Sam to sleep while the boys were watched for their dad while he was away working, rooms of teen girls when he'd still been bothering with high school that had sneaked him in with giggling and hushed whispers not to be too loud for fear of waking up parents, and of course the hotels ranging everywhere from suites to dinky little, cheap single rooms. The later had been the norm, fancier places only taken when nothing else could be conveniently found. John had always put survival over comfort, and it was much more important to put their limited money toward food to keep bellies warm and full than getting a place for a single night that offered such niceties like mints on pillows and fresh flowers in vases.

This place was much more down the middle of the road between the two extremes. It wasn't any kind of bug infested hovel but neither was it the sort of place that celebrities liked to party in with the money they could afford to literally burn. It was just comfortable, a soft pair of twin beds, working AC that made the beginning of summer a lot more bearable and a nice hot shower with good amount of pressure to wash dirt and grime off. It had been the best feature of the place, sorely needed after the conclusion of the latest hunt Dean and his dad had taken part in.

Cheyenne Bottoms hadn't sounded like a fun place to go visit in the first place, for a variety of different reasons. Who wanted to stomp around in the middle of marshlands in the first place? Wet, slimy and bugs flying around everywhere in the warm weather, it had been a pain in the ass even before they had found the monster there, dragging people down to murder and eat chunks off of them. It had been the first time Dean had ever encountered a boggart, a shaggy thing with big eyes and yellowish fingernails long enough to be claws. The thing had barely been in the shape of a human, ugly as sin and twice as foul. It had taken forever to lure it out to kill it, wading out in the waters and acting as bait to trying and entice it.

He'd been warned by his dad it was going to be a mess of a job, but it had been both literally and figuratively. Apparently Cheyenne had a bad past from the start, old blood that had once flowed in the water in a battle that had happened over a hundred years ago. A history of anger, violence and bloodshed always attracted nasty things to it. The boggart probably hadn't even been the first thing to move into the area to nest over the years.

The other reason why the place wasn't exactly pleasant for them to hunt was the state they were in. Kansas was a place that John largely liked to avoid for the most part. He mostly drove around it unless time was of the essence and they had to get through it as fast as possible, and the amount of hunts they'd done there over the years Dean could count on one hand. His dad had insisted on tackling this one though, and he hadn't argued, not seeing the reason for it. John Winchester said jump and Dean did, because he needed him to and he largely knew better in these sort of situations. Questioning orders only wasted time and made life harder on his father.

Part of Dean had to wonder if the older hunter was feeling a little nostalgic. It hadn't been long since Sam had left for Standford, a few months in fact. He'd taken off after a huge argument with their dad. Arguments were the order of the day most times that his little brother and dad were in the same room together, but the last time had easily been the worst. Screaming for both of them, accusations from Sam that John was a controlling obsessed maniac, John yelling at him that he was an ungrateful brat betraying his whole family for a pretty lie. Dean wanted to think that John had told Sam that if he went out the door to never come back in an attempt to shock the youngest Winchester, that it would make him reel enough to think over college and start to focus on what really mattered in their lives. Instead the teenager had taken it as an invitation to walk away and not worry about looking back.

He was sure when his dad had enough time to calm down he would pick up the phone and call, smooth things out. Arguments happened all the time, but apologies did too. It was so obvious to Dean how much John loved Sam, even favored him for being so smart and able-bodied, the best of both worlds. It's why he'd devoted so much of his time protecting Sam, keeping him out of the life for as long as possible so he could have a normal childhood for as long as they could manage. Dean had had that ripped away from him so early, and John had done so much to keep the same fate from falling on Sam's shoulders too quickly. It made sense that he was hurt by the fact his youngest son didn't even appreciate it. Again, while John said hot things to Sam all the time, he often would try to smooth things over later and his son usually let him even if the thoughts of a normal life never left him.

At most, Dean gave it another month. A few more weeks and heads would be cool enough to grab the phone and get back in contact with his runaway son and make up enough to bring him home. If college was so important, online courses were available, and cheaper too. Even if Sam had managed to get a full ride from Standford for his pre-law classes, he still needed to buy food, supplies, and of course salt and other materials to keep himself safe. He surely wouldn't be dumb enough to go so native into the civilian lifestyle that he'd leave himself exposed to the threats out there. Things would get hard on his little brother soon, too young and inexperienced to take care of himself. They'd both calm down, someone would call, compromises would get hashed out and Sam would be back with his family where he could be looked after and kept safe.

For now though, it seemed Dean had to keep an eye on his dad and see to his well being. He wasn't sure if this trip to Kansas was a good thing or not. He'd put down good money that it was all because John missed his youngest son and needed something to connect himself back to their shared past, even if it was just a state line with Lawrence still being a good two hundred plus miles away. It was obviously close enough, but it crawled in the back of the young man's mind that something felt wrong about their need to be there that didn't have a damn thing to do with any man-eating monster. There was no way to tell yet if this would make things better or worse for John, so now Dean needed to be hyper aware of the man's mental state, observe every little clue he could until they got out of Great Bend and Kansas was in their rear view mirror. Hell, he'd probably watch him for a long time even after, just to be safe. John needed a good son covering his back, even if he'd never admit it, they both knew Dean's role in this family was to keep them together, sane and safe.

Not that he'd been able to do that with Sammy, so he needed to buckle down and work even harder to do his job for his dad.

He'd been told to go out and get something for dinner for the two of them, but he was still getting everything together. His dad had let him go at the shower first, and in his haste to strip out of the filthy clothing, he'd tossed his wallet aside somewhere in the room. He'd been too eager to get the muddy clothe off of him, drying to his skin, leaving him feeling itchy and gross. The last thing he'd cared about was the worn leather wallet being pulled out of his pants pocket and tossed aside. Of course, now he actually did need to find it along with the car keys that John had put down somewhere in order to get something for dinner. Luckily it wasn't too late in the evening so he was in no real rush for fear of any diners being closed for some ordering out.

It was the ringing of John's phone that led him to where he needed to look, for the keys at least. The items had been put away in the bedside dresser drawer, arranged neatly and safe, along with the journal. His eyes lingered on the phone, seeing a number he didn't recognize on the small screen of the little gray flip-phone. It was an uncommon occurrence. Anyone who had access to any of the man's several phone numbers was known to John. He rarely put down names in the contact lists, just in case it fell into the wrong hands and could lead back to people he knew, but there was usually something programmed in. A location, town or state, or some profession of some kind typed in the place where a name would normally be. John had a list of 'Hunter #1' to 'Hunter #27' on just one of his phones.

Here though, there was nothing, no name, location or any kind of hint of who could be calling. Which meant someone had his dad's phone number and the man didn't know who it would be. Perhaps something benign like a telemarketer, but it could also be someone who had gotten the number from another hunter. In that case it would be either someone looking for help or some kind of trap.

John was still in the shower, and Dean felt it was best to let the voicemail get it. However, after it had reached the final ring it was quiet again for only a few moments before it started up again. Clearly whoever was trying to get in touch had hung up when they'd gotten a recording of a voice instead of the real thing in order to try again. He couldn't ignore it a second time, picking it up and flipping it open to see what was going on. Someone might be in real trouble, and in those kind of cases, time was usually of the essence where even mere seconds could count between life and death.

"Hello?" he asked, not willing to betray anything just yet. Best to keep his words short and scope out the situation first.

The response was not what he'd been expecting, a soft and somewhat soft-spoken but eager voice answering him back in a similar questioning tone.

"Dad? Dad, is that you?"

"What?" he found himself passing back to the mysterious voice. He'd been a little surprised by those words, momentarily knocking him off guard.

"Dad, I found your number in Mom's bedroom. She had it tucked away in her desk drawer. I begged her forever to call you, but she kept refusing so I found it myself. My name is Adam and I live at-"

"Adam! What in the world are you doing?! Give me that phone right now!"

The hunter could only reel as he heard scuffling and the far off sound of the protesting voice of a child, yelling something about this not being fair. This had to be a wrong number, a mistake of some kind. He himself had only uttered two words in this conversation but clearly the next two needed to be good bye.

"John, oh god I am so sorry," a woman said in a quick and frantic tone over the line. "I never wanted to bother you with this, I swear. You have to be busy with your own life, your own responsibilities to worry over a child you had with a woman you knew over the course of a weekend. I didn't want to hide this from you, but you said all those things about only being around for a day or two before leaving and I just couldn't drag you into this in good conscience. Adam just… he's in that phase where he wants to know more about you and he must have found the number I had for your phone. I didn't even know if it'd still be in service. I mean… it's been over a decade since we've even talked to one another. God… John, say something. Please, anything. I swear this isn't some ploy to get anything out of you. I know this is a shock but your silence is starting to scare me."

"Uh… y-yeah," Dean croaked, feeling like his world was falling out from underneath of his feet. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real. The boggart had kept him underwater when it'd dragged him down under, and he was drowning. The lack of oxygen had gotten to his brain, causing it to come up with some ridiculous nightmare about some third kid that his dad apparently had, only not really because he couldn't have another kid because clearly Dean was just drowning. "This is… this is Dean."

For a moment there was silence, and he had to wonder if the call had ended before a mortified voice weakly replied.

"Dean? Not… not John? Oh no, the number must have changed. I'm sorry, my son was calling for John Winchester because he thought… You know what, it doesn't matter. I'm so, so sorry for bothering you. I'll just be hanging up now. Again, I'm sorry for this. Good bye."

"Wait, I'm Dean Winchester!" he found himself crying out before he could even think about anything else. He didn't even know why he was panicking. The phone would save the number. Even if she hung up he could call back, but she might not answer. The kid might though. What had been his name? Aden or something? It didn't matter. He wasn't risking not being able to get through on this line again, not when he could get answers now. "John Winchester is my dad."

"He has another son?"

A couple of them, but no need to get into that right now.

"Yeah. He's in the shower right now, so I answered for him."

"And I just unloaded all of that on you. Dean, I am so sorry about all of this. This must be such a shock to you," she breathed.

The hunter had to wonder how many times she was going to apologize but he had to admit this was a very strange situation for everyone involved.

His dad was lucky, away in the bathroom where he didn't have to be the one dealing with all of this.

"Look, um, why don't you leave your information and I'll let Dad know you called as soon as he's done washing. He can get back in contact with you when he's finished. What's your name?"

"Kate, Kate Milligan and my son… our son is named Adam. I know this is a lot to take in, but please stress to your father I don't expect anything from him. I know this isn't fair to have dumped into his lap."

It also wasn't fair to keep it from him for who knew how long, but that didn't seem to have stopped her.

"Right, I'll let him know the second he's available," he assured her before hanging up. His throat was starting to feel tight and dry so he grabbed a water bottle from the little mini fridge they'd stocked some basics in and chugged it down. It barely helped and he didn't feel much better, but it was still less worse than it had been a few moments ago.

It wasn't much longer until John was out of the bathroom, and thank crap for it, because another ten seconds and Dean would have been climbing the walls in stress. As it was he felt like a barely contained spring, ready to launch out any second in a nonaligned bout of energy.

"Dean, you're still here? You can't have left and gotten back with the food so-"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Dean cried out, half flustered but also half in anger. He had never, ever spoken to him this way. Yelling at John was what Sammy did, accusations and deep seated anger about their family was strictly an issue his little brother had. Only this was too big, too huge for Dean to keep calm about. Hell, he couldn't even wrap his head around it. It was all too much and if he spent another minute thinking about it without being able to say anything then he was going to go completely nuts. He was clearly starting to crack already.

John though, completely cool, just stared hard at Dean. The older brother was raised as a soldier, expected to give respect and act accordingly. John never yelled at Dean because he didn't need to. A whisper from the man was enough to get his eldest to listen.

Any other day it would have worked like a charm, but monster killing basic training had been a long time ago and had never covered things like additional surprise siblings.

"Who's Kate Milligan?" he asked immediately, knowing it was his only chance of getting answers. He needed his father off his game, bewildered and confused enough to make a mistake and let something slip. Especially since he himself was feeling the exact same way. He had no chance of winning a conversation between them if he was flustered and his dad was in control of himself.

Luckily it seemed to do the trick. Confusion flashed over the man's features but recognition did as well, dashing any hope that this was just some mistake. He knew the woman, and if that much was true any lingering odds that the rest was a lie or some trick was getting smaller and smaller by the second. After all, his dad was sharp, but knowing the name of some woman he'd apparently met over a decade ago seemed very remote unless something important had passed between them.

"It doesn't matter," he answered after a minute. "You don't need to know anything about that."

"Yeah, well she has a son and apparently the both of them think you're the dad, so it seems like I might need to know something," he replied. Inertia was carrying him through right now. Dean was obedient. Dean was the good son. He didn't argue, didn't talk back and he certainly didn't carry on matters after he was told to drop them. He could already feel himself starting to lose it, the air in his chest wanting to deflate, to carry all of this strength of will away and let him sink comfortably back into the role he was used to.

That would be then. For now, he was not letting this drop so easily.

Maybe it was the fact he was unused to Dean verbally fighting back or just how unusual the situation was, but it was all it took for the man to cave. A surprise really. He'd seen him go hours with Sam, never budging an inch. He was glad for it though. It was late, Dean was sore and tired, and this needed to be resolved now. Bruises, scratches and a bite mark or two still littered his skin, and he'd be all too happy to just get a couple of burgers, eat, settle down and then sleep away his exhaustion and pain, but a bombshell like this couldn't be ignored, even by people as determined as the Winchesters who did not believe in delving into emotional issues.

"It was a hunt about thirteen years ago, back in January in 1990," he explained. "I was alone except for a cop. He'd never seen anything like what we had to hunt so I was doing most of the heavy lifting. It got too close before it was taken out, and he had to get me to the hospital and use a cover story I had been out camping and hunting when I'd gotten into an accident. She was a nurse there, the one to patch me up."

"Oh, and you didn't think to grab some condoms while you were there?" Dean snarked at him.

"Watch your mouth, boy. I know how many girls you love to slink off to like some alley cat in the middle of the night, and I have never said a word about it because I know you're a man who can take care of yourself," John said in a warning tone.

Dean didn't push it, but the words hadn't changed his mind either. In fact, it had only reinforced it. He was in his early twenties and he certainly knew better. How was it he was the son here and he still had to act like the parent? If his dad had said he'd had one, or she'd been on the pill or something it would have helped. At least then John would have tried, but the fact he wasn't saying anything along those lines was coming close to confirming the accusation. It hadn't confirmed it exactly but it hadn't made Dean wrong either. An infuriating and worrying prospect. Were there other little brats running around because the hunter hadn't bothered to suit up?

For fuck's sake, Dean knew he himself would never make such a mistake. A kid you didn't even know about being out there somewhere, and a teenager to boot? Talk about an impossible situation to handle, all because someone couldn't take an extra minute to be careful. He'd never let that happen.

"This might be a trap," John mused. "I wish I'd been the one to answer, so I could have confirmed some details with her to see if she really was who she said she was. You should have gotten me the second the phone rang."

The winds were starting to leave Dean's sails. He wasn't made to argue against his dad, nor really stand up for himself with him either. He'd made one too many smart ass comments already and this whole thing was starting to drain him big time. He didn't agree with the assessment that somehow made this situation his fault, but nor could he bring himself to deny it either.

John Winchester had another kid out there somewhere, and it was his eldest son's fault for not taking the phone to him in the shower? Dean considered himself pretty sharp in his job but this didn't feel like some well laid out trap or plan by some devious monsters. He didn't deserve the blame.

Then again, he might be too shocked by the news to think clearly. His dad was a superhero, an amazing hunter, of course he wouldn't let something like this make him lose his edge and paranoia. Of course he'd doubt.

Maybe… maybe Dean should have given his dad the phone. If it had been an emergency or danger then John would have needed to know immediately anyway, and he would have been in a better position to figure out if something was amiss. The younger Winchester didn't know this woman at all, had never even heard of her. How would he have known what to ask her to confirm her identity or intentions? What if he'd just allowed himself to get manipulated into telling John what she wanted him to hear, just enough to dangle a line and lure him into some kind of trap?

She had been close enough to see the kid with the phone and grab it away. It would stand to reason she'd been in the room the whole time instead of just coincidentally walking it and noticing what the child was doing. If that was the case then it would also make sense that the whole thing had been staged for some reason.

What if the kid was being used or was a monster himself? Hell, what if a kid under the name Adam Milligan didn't even exist and he'd been suckered in like a naive sap out on his first hunt? To think he was acting like some dumb newbie, the kind that still wandered around in the woods with a shotgun looking for Bigfoot and swearing to everyone and anyone that aliens existed and were on Earth abducting people for probing.

Thank god he had his dad to keep him thinking straight and knock sense into him when he required it. He really needed to get sharper about their line of work and more prepared for things like this. He'd be dead ten times over without John and his training.

"So what do we do, sir?" he asked, knowing he needed direction in this now. His dad was smart. He'd have a plan. He always did. All Dean needed was to hear and know his orders.

"We go there and check this out. No calls," John instructed immediately. "She won't know we're coming. Take her by surprise just in case, if you haven't already tipped our hand that far."

"No sir. I just said I'd tell you, nothing else," he assured him. "I mentioned you'd call back, but she was talking a lot about how you didn't have to if you didn't want to and she's not expecting anything out of you."

"Well that's something at least. Get your stuff, wherever you threw it around at. I want us out the door in ten minutes and on the road. She's located in Windom, up in Minnesota, or at least she used to be. If she's moved since then we can track her new address when we get there. We'll grab food on the way," John ordered before grabbing his bag to start packing up.

Dean mentally calculated the distance between the town and where they were in his mind. It would take about eight hour to get there, though less if they floored the gas pedal and ignore the speed limit. It would be dark the whole way there, not a lot of cars in the way so an hour shaved off shouldn't be too difficult, especially if they drove in shifts so the other could rest. Morning would be right around the corner when they arrived one way or the other.

Still, in all the orders and obedience, a small seed was planted in Dean's gut. A white hot little nugget of anger that would not cool even if it was deeply buried at the moment.

If this wasn't a trap, if this was true, then his dad had another kid. A little preteen brat that had suddenly seen fit to shove himself into their lives without any thought about what kind of upheaval it would do to them. In the back of his mind, he knew it was stupid to be mad at the kid, that it was not his fault two adults had decided to tangle themselves up in the horizontal tango, but being mad at his father wasn't working out and this anger had to go somewhere.

Adam seemed as good a target as any other to his unthinking, unreasonable rage. Because Dean had a brother already, he had Sammy, even tucked away in college and hidden away from hunting. He'd walked away, not ceased to exist, and no soft-spoken voice on a phone was going to replace his little brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was… interesting to write, especially the end. I'm not one of the fans that regard John Winchester as the worst parent ever. I think with the circumstances he was given by fate he did his best, even if he made massive mistakes concerning secrets and his kid's emotional needs, but he does love his sons. On the other hand, there is no denying he treated Dean like a soldier and was not shy about the less than complimentary remarks towards his son when it seemed like he'd messed up. Just the things he said about the Impala near the end of season 1 was enough to confirm that.
> 
> So, yeah, wouldn't expect him to be cuddly father of the year here. He's just going to be John with all the good and the bad that comes with it. On the other hand, enjoy a less experienced and hardened Dean. His emotions are all over the place but he's got a good heart.


	2. Maybe I'm Amazed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really happy to be able to get to this chapter. This story actually started with the idea of Dean meeting a younger Adam so I knew I had to explore it with all the relish I could muster. Now that I'm done with my other story for Sam, I plan to put my time into this fic as well as Crossroad at the River Styx, ironically another story about giving Dean a young family member to look after and care for. Huh, it's almost as if I like the theme or something.
> 
> All joking around, I do so hope that you guys like this chapter.

Windom, Minnesota wasn't that hot of a town apparently, even in the middle of summer. It wasn't too cold or too warm, a perfect temperature in the low sixties as the Impala pulled up in town. Despite the fact the car had officially been transferred over to him in ownership with paperwork when Dean had been eighteen years old, he still largely followed John around, especially in this case. His father knew the address to the house and led the way through the streets in the little suburban area of the town.

They eventually stopped in front of a two story blue house. It didn't look as if it were in disrepair but it had certainly seen better days too. The paint on the home was faded and flaked in a few spots, and the lawn looked like it could stand to be mowed, grass uneven and dandelions popped up along the driveway and on several spots in the greenery. A bike laid out on the grass, and there was a freebie up on the roof, but no car at all in front of the house.

Dean was a little confused at that. They'd gotten here pretty early, just a little past six in the morning. Whoever lived here hadn't already left, had they?

He climbed out of the car and moved to the shiny and large black truck John drove, looking in through the window. The man had parked but refused to get out yet, and when he looked through the glass he saw his father just sitting there, a hand to his mouth. Dean could swear for a second he saw him tremble, a moment of weakness that didn't make any sense to him at all. His dad could stand down monsters three times stronger than him, didn't show fear to the most terrifying ghosts, was a legend among hunters.

John Winchester did not get scared by a stupid house with stupid faded paint and stupid toys!

Dean didn't even know why he was so angry. This was all so off and surreal and ridiculous. This wasn't their life. It hadn't been since they had lost his mom. This wasn't the kind of place they belonged, not unless there was a hunt. Why was his father acting like this? What happened to the cold determination to find out if this was all a trap or not?

Right before he could knock on the window and demand to know what they were even doing here if John was just going to sit there, the sound of a car pulling up caught his attention. The young man watched a beat up looking station wagon park in the driveway. The engine cut off and a moment later a woman climbed out of it, stooping over to grab something out of the vehicle before standing up and giving him a clear view of her.

Dean idolized his father, loved him, wanted to be just like him but right now he wanted nothing more than to hit him as hard as he could.

The woman looked like Mom.

It wasn't rational, but the similarities were too much to ignore. The blonde hair of the same shade, around the same height, hell even her hair cut looked the same. Despite being only four when he'd last seen her, Dean knew his mom's look. He couldn't count how many times he'd laid awake at night, thinking about her looks, voice, cooking, anything he could. He'd memorized all that he had been able to, terrified that one day he would forget her and she would really be gone forever, a fear of a child who had no other way to cope.

Granted, there was no way that the two women could have been confused with one another. Standing side by the side, anyone would have been able to tell them apart, but there was enough similarities to stroke at the fire burning in Dean's gut and begin to fuel a pure rage. He wanted to drag his father out of his truck and start beating on him while screaming at him in accusations for trying to replace Mary Winchester. The wave of anger honestly scared him, and it was probably the biggest reason why he didn't do it. Taking his anger out on his father was Sam's way, not his own. He understood his father had his reasons for his actions, didn't question him, and yet this felt like such a betrayal to her memory he couldn't help the desires running wild in his head.

He was about to actually rip the door open anyway when it clicked open on its own and John's feet hit the pavement. In a few long strides, he was quickly approaching the woman, causing her to whip around in surprise to face him. Dean followed quickly, not about to let himself not be a part of this conversation.

"John!" she gasped out. He'd been right about one thing. She clearly hadn't been expecting them, that was for sure. "What are you doing here?"

"I got your message," he said, his softer and more clear than Dean had ever thought he'd heard it. There was an emotion in it the man couldn't place, nor that he wanted to spend that much time trying to identify. He didn't think he would like the answer no matter what it was. "This is Dean, my son. You talked to him on the phone."

What the hell had happened to trying to find out if she was a monster or if this was a trap? That had been a damn good plan. What had happened to that plan?!

He swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded his head slowly to her in greeting, not trusting himself to speak.

"I told him that I didn't expect anything of you. What are you even doing here?" she asked him, her voice sounding stern and even a little angry. "It's the first thing in the morning. I just got off from work at the hospital. What, were you waiting for me or something?"

"We drove up here to see you and… and…" John stated, seeming terribly flustered. It was so unlike him, Dean wanted to believe he was having some kind of dream.

It just occurred to him that he'd never actually told his dad what the name of his third son was.

"Adam," he supplied, figuring he shouldn't let him flounder like that. All the talk of not walking into a trap, it was clear neither of them had been doing their clearest thinking. It had floored the both of them, as much as he hated to admit it.

"You drove all night?" Kate asked softly.

"The second Dean told me, yes," he answered with a nod of his head.

"Oh John," she breathed. Her shoulders sagged a little, but a small and bittersweet sort of smile graced her lips as she looked up at him. "I never… I thought so many times that I should tell you, but you made it so clear you couldn't stay, I didn't want to burden you. I didn't think you would have come all this way for the two of us."

"I never would stay away, not from something like this," John said softly, reaching out and tracing a hand over her hair. His touch was soft and gentle and Dean couldn't bare to watch, looking away. He wasn't sure if it was because he felt he was intruding or because the urge to hit him over Mom's honor was steadily rising. Either way, it was a scene that he didn't feel like he had a part in, that was for damn sure.

"You should come inside," she sighed out after a moment. "Adam should still be asleep, but if you're here then he'd never forgive me if I didn't let him know. He asks about you all the time, so you should be prepared."

The three of them walked inside and Dean looked around. The place looked a little messy, but with a lived in sort of quality. Though he himself hadn't had a home like this for nearly two decades, he had been in enough places on hunts to get a full spectrum of people's living conditions. Some complete mansions that could be put in magazines, some places hovels, and then everything in between. It screamed single mom, a few things scattered around, mostly toys and a few pieces of clothing, some dust on bookshelves, but overall pretty clean.

"So, you work the night shift now?" John asked conversationally, looking around as well. It seemed the both of them appeared just curious, but Dean knew they were both trying to find something off, something that made this seem like it couldn't be true. They had to be subtle about it. After all, they couldn't just start slicing her up with silver or throwing salt at her. This was going to take more finesse.

"Adam needs me at home during the day," she explained to him as she put her purse aside and started to pick up at the things laying around. "Once he got old enough, I started working later hours so he could just sleep while I was away. It's easier during the summer, since he can just go out and play. It's the school year when it's tough."

She gave a little laugh, ad if some fond memory had just hit her.

"He's a good kid, always has been. I ask him to look over the house when I'm away, and he's always been dependable. You know, if you like, I always took the time to take pictures. I've got whole albums of him, if you two want to take a look at them later on," she offered.

"Oh, I don't know if-"

"We'd love to," John interrupted Dean before he could confused. They would? Just how long did John plan on them to stay anyway? What was the plan here if it turned out these people were normal, which it was seeming more and more like they were?

"I'll go upstairs and get him then. Feel free to sit down and make yourself comfortable," she told the two. "Once we're all introduced I'll get started on some breakfast. I'm sure you're hungry after such a long drive."

"You don't have to go out of your way on account of us," John stated, but Kate just shook her head.

"It's just cereal and coffee," she informed him with a smile. "I don't have energy for anything else after work. Anyway, I'll be right back."

The two waited around as she went up the stairs, though neither sat down. Without a word, they both moved in opposite directions, scoping the room as best they could in what little amount of time that they had.

"I don't see anything that looks like it could be an occult item," Dean said, running his hand over knickknacks and books. No smell of sulfur or blood, no strange scratching at the walls, and overall it just looked like a normal every day house. "You?"

"Nothing," John replied, picking up picture frames and flipping them around to glance at the back before moving to the next one. Dean hadn't looked himself, but he could imagine there were plenty of them of Kate and her son. He realized he didn't know what Adam even looked like, but he also wasn't sure he really wanted to. He couldn't even imagine it. A little miniature John running around maybe, gruff faced and moody, but just short.

The idea was really stupid, but he didn't think he could handle the reality of this just yet. He still expected to wake up and just have this all be a weird dream and nothing more, just a really stupid fantasy. Hell, if he could have that, he'd also like his real brother back, thank you very much. No Adam, no Stanford, just his normal little life with his normal little family chasing after the crap that went bump in the dark.

He wasn't waking up, which just went to show that life was really fucking unfair.

The sound of footsteps stamping down the stairs was more than enough warning to stop their search for now. The kid was coming.

The steps sounded louder than they should, really loud. He blinked as it seemed like the room was stretching out in front of him, and blood was starting to rush in his ears, making him feel hot as his head swam. Dean felt a sense of foreboding hit him, choking and clogging his throat and keeping him from being able to focus. Air was getting hard to suck in, and he needed to get outside.

"No, no I can't," he gasped out as he stumbled back.

"Dean," John said, turning to him but Dean was already turning and running out of the house. "Dean!"

Dean Winchester could count on one hand how many times he had disobeyed his father, ignored his orders. He felt he was due this one time. He didn't want to see the kid, didn't want to face this, didn't want this damn reality! His father didn't need a kid! He had Sam! Dean had Sam! Just because he had gone off to college didn't mean he didn't exist any more! That woman and kid didn't have any right to be here, existing and ruining everything!

He collapsed against the Impala, sturdy and strong as he threw his weight against the frame. It felt like the only dependable thing in his life at the moment, the only thing that was real. The sun hitting the black and sleek vehicle warmed his skin, made him a little more sane. The whole world spun on around him but he paid it no mind. His brain just wouldn't register that anything existed as he took in big gulps of air and hid against his car, refusing to even open up his eyes to a life that would be so cruel as to rip away his little brother and try to replace him with a shoddy, knock-off replacement.

He was so preoccupied that he didn't even hear John approaching, and even if he had, he wasn't sure he would have cared. A strong hand rested on his shoulder but he didn't look up, and he didn't know if it was because he couldn't or just wouldn't.

"Dean." His father's voice broke through the fog clouding his mind, a lighthouse over the ocean of uncertainty he'd found himself flung into. "Dean, come back inside."

"No," he said immediately. Add another refusal. At this point it might even hit double digits. How impressive.

"Dean, I said-"

"Why?! So I can see the damn kid you plan to replace my brother with?!" he yelled as he whipped around to face him. The anger that bad been building in his stomach, slowly boiling over with every second that passed. Every little piece of normality of this was pissing him off, every soft look and gentle word his father gave to this woman that looked like his mother in a passing manner but was not Mary. He wanted to grab John and shake him, to force him to see how wrong all of this was. Why should Dean have to suffer this all because his father couldn't have been responsible enough not to go off and make a whole other human being?!

He felt even angrier when John just gave him an even look, his eyes brimming with an emotion that Dean didn't want to acknowledge, a soft look of sorrow.

"I never should have brought you here," he stated, and while the tone had nothing but regret in it, an apologetic tint to the words, Dean felt like a canon ball had hit him right in his stomach. It didn't sound like it, and yet it felt so much like disappointment. He shouldn't have brought Dean, because Dean couldn't take this, because he couldn't keep himself together, because he wasn't strong enough to face a reality that clearly had no plans or intention of going away.

The anger died away as if he'd had a bucket of water dumped onto his head. Little embers of his rage were all that survived, and even those were rapidly cooling in the cold and numb feeling that was replacing it.

"I'll go back inside and talk to them. You don't have to come in. Once things are handled, we'll figure out what's going on past that," he informed his eldest son. For a moment he hesitated before sighing softly. "This was too much to put on you. Believe me, I'd give anything for you not to have answered that phone so you didn't need to deal with this."

Dean almost pointed out it wouldn't have made Adam any less real. It just would have meant that John would have to lie to him about the kid's existence, but he suddenly found that he just didn't have the energy for it. What he'd yelled before had kind of drained his emotional batteries. Why even bother to bring it up? He didn't want to argue with his dad. There was literally no reason for it, or at least nothing that he would reasonably be able to get out of it. There was not a single reply, a single answer, that Dean would appreciate hearing at this moment. It was better just to let it lie down on the ground and die in peace.

"If you'd feel more comfortable leaving, you can," he offered. "Get some breakfast or a hotel room. Hell, I understand if you just want to leave town. I can catch up."

Like he would leave John alone to this. While the chances of it being a trap seemed just about dead, it wasn't exactly what he was afraid of. Hell, he wasn't even sure himself what he was afraid of. Some little thought in the back of his mind, wiggling around like a spider that had gotten into his skull and was laying eggs in his brain, made him wonder if maybe John wouldn't be happier here in suburbia with a still living wife and kid. He squashed it down ruthlessly, knowing it was idiotic to even think that. John hadn't suddenly stopped loving Mom. He was still determined to find that thing that killed her, was still going to do anything and everything it took to avenge her. He would never give that up. It was just impossible.

It had also been impossible to think about having two little brothers just a short while again. Less than half a day and the world had shifted off of it's axles just to throw Dean face first into the dirt. Impossibilities were a lot less stable idea right now than he would like them to be.

"I'll wait," he found himself saying. No clear idea occurred to him of what he would even do. It's not like he could grab John and throw him into the truck and make him drive off. Still, he was certain that this little white picket fence life wouldn't mean anything either. They'd leave this place behind and go back to the way things were supposed to be.

Still, he couldn't help but notice that as John walked away back into the house, he hadn't denied any of Dean's accusations about replacing Sam.

A good hour passed by and Dean just let time flow on as he leaned up against his car. He didn't move, didn't leave to go get anything to eat despite his stomach grumbling to let him know that he hadn't eaten since last night, and even that had just been crappy fast food drive through. Not exactly the most filling meal in the world.

He refused to go back inside though. He wasn't allowing himself to face that home again, but he didn't want to leave without John either, not for food or shelter. The idea of getting a hotel room was uncomfortable to him, not sure how long they would be here. This didn't seem like a matter that could just be handled in a few hours, but staying for even a day made him want to hit something.

What was he doing?

He sighed as he stared down at the asphalt. Why was he here? Where had his normal life gone, where it was just himself and his dad, Sam far off now but sure to come back before too much more time passed? Why had everything suddenly fallen out from underneath of him and refused to rebuild itself back into stable ground so that he could find his footing?

"Hey, um, you're Dean, right?"

The man closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and trying to keep himself calm. He didn't want this. He didn't want to deal with this. Just anyone who would listen, make it go away.

"We spoke on the phone?" a voice clearly belonging to a kid asked, burying into the darkness just past Dean's eyelids, soft and uncertain sounding and yet refusing to be ignored.

He allowed himself to open his eyes and look over at the thing that had all the plans currently in motion for ruining his life.

And stopped short.

He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, not really. The thought of a smaller John had been the place holder in his imagination but not a real possibility that he had considered. If he'd been pressed he might have expected another Sammy, bowl cut brown hair and a chubby face with a broad frame that would clearly grow into a tall and big shouldered man someday.

Adam was not that, not at all. While not big for his age, he was gangly, as if a growth spurt had just hid the preteen and he was still getting used to it and filling out. A crude cut of dirty blonde hair laid over a big forehead and icy blue eyes, a few freckles doting his young face that could easily have had more under the right amount of sunlight. It hit him the kid probably was inside a lot, keeping safe so his mom wouldn't have to worry about him while she was out working. Probably a kid who was used to being alone, used to getting responsibilities that were too much for his age.

A very uncomfortable feeling crawled down Dean's spine that the kid looked a little like him, and that he was probably seeing way too much of himself in him, only with an innocence, a childhood look about him that Dean had never had about himself, not since he'd been four years old.

Something inside of him melted, easing up on his fears and angers, just faded even as his grip on it weakened. He wasn't even sure he wanted to hold onto it that tightly.

Why was he mad at this kid, someone who was just desperate for both his parents to be in his life? He hadn't done anything to make this situation. Hell, in this whole mess he was the only one who was in any way innocent. It wasn't even remotely fair to feel his anger for Adam. What kind of jerk throws something like that on a child just because he himself doesn't like the truth of what he'd heard over a cell phone?

"Hey," he found himself said, kneeling down a bit to look the kid in the eyes. He was still in his pajamas, a sports t-shirt on for a team didn't know, probably some local one, and pajama pants that looked a little short on him and showing off his ankles and bare feet. Most certainly a growth spurt recently then. He didn't know Kate Milligan at all, but he didn't see a woman working nights as a nurse as the kind of mother who'd force her son to keep clothes that did not fit him. "Yeah, I'm Dean. Dean Winchester. I take it you're Adam?"

The boy nodded his head, hanging around by the front of the Impala, just a little behind the hood as if hiding, or ready to run the second this went poorly and didn't want any obstacles in his way.

"Mom and John are talking in the kitchen," he stated, as if he felt the need to report. "I think they're going to be in there for a while."

"Mmm, probably have a lot to talk about," he said, noting the kid not using the term dad. He wondered if it was because Adam didn't want to or was afraid to in front of Dean. He probably hadn't made the best first impression, running out of the house like a bat out of Hell. That was bound to make any family identifying hard. "Well, it has been a long time since they've seen each other. I guess it's to be expected."

"Yeah," he agreed noncommittally.

The conversation was starting to stall, and Dean felt like he needed to keep it going. As weird and confusing as this had to be for him, it couldn't be any easier for Adam. The kid was around half his age and hadn't known he'd had a half-sibling either. So far he wasn't screaming at anyone or cursing all of existence, so Dean really needed to just get over himself and step up.

"I guess this is pretty big, huh? Order a dad and get a big brother free," he joked. Adam hadn't smiled once since he'd been approached and he kind of wanted to know what the kid looked like when he did.

"Mom didn't tell me I had a big brother," he replied.

"Well, she didn't know," Dean assured him, not wanting to think any secrets had been kept from him. "Though that's not exactly true either, about the brother thing I mean. You have two, not one. Dad has another son, Sam. He's… he's away right now, off to college."

He didn't see the need to mention based on conversations from before he'd even met this kid that both John and Sam thought that he was never come back. Dean knew better than both of them. Sam would be back in the hunting lifestyle, once he realized it was what was best for the whole family. He didn't know exactly what that meant for Adam, but he'd personally ensure Sam would meet the kid at the very least.

He also didn't see any reason to deny this kid the title of brother because that would just be cruel. There was no good explanation to give on that front, and he really didn't think he could live with breaking this boy's heart for no good reason. Maybe soon Dean would hit the road and drive off, but let him have the label at least.

And, if he would allow himself to be honest, just driving off and saying good bye was not settling well with him at all. He tried not to analyze it too much, his emotions still too raw to even allow himself to dig into that.

"So, what's a kid like you do for fun around here?" he found himself asking instead. If he knew his dad at all, John would be in there for a while. He probably believed this was all on the up and up, but he would no doubt want to be completely sure, get every detail out of Kate that he could under the guise of just catching up.

If he was getting the level of big brother all over again, he might as well act on it for a while and treat the kid to an arcade or something.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, this isn't all going to be angst on Dean's part, I swear. He's just dealing with a lot right now, that's all.
> 
> In any case, if you liked it, please by all means review. I really love hearing from you guys on what your thoughts are on what I'm writing.


	3. New Kid in Town

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a bit since I was able to get to this one. I have to apologize for that. Balancing three Supernatural fanfictions at a time isn't the easiest thing in the world, and the silliest part is I'm working on notes for two additional ones. Those being multi-chapter stories. I'm not even counting the one-shots that I write out when the mood takes me. The fact that I had the idea of Dean meeting little Adam in my head, but sadly nothing else past that, forced me to sit down and come up with some plot for this because otherwise I was going to be that jackass who has a good idea but never develops it. I don't wanna be that jackass, so here we are, with another chapter and some plot to this thing.
> 
> So thank you for the patience on this and I do so hope that you enjoy the piece.

When the kid went back inside to get dressed for the little excursion, Dean had to admit he was still very unsure about this whole damn situation. His world still felt rocked, shaky underneath of his feet. What would happen now? Would they spend a day or two here before driving off, never to return? Could that even be possible with something this big?

He really should grab his dad and get some answers from him on what they should do. He felt completely lost here but he was more used to following John than really riding solo. His dad was the one who made the choices of where they went and what they hunted, not him. This would be no different. There had been jobs they'd driven away from once they were done, never to look back, but this wasn't a job. This was family…

Was it family? The fact that Dean didn't know was tearing him up inside. He was so used to essentially being alone besides Sam and their dad. True there were family friends, close allies they could rely on, but blood was different. Now he had this blood relation he had no idea what to do with.

He was going to have take this a little bit at a time, that was all. There was no way he could be alright with all of this, not so soon. He could fake it until he made it though. If there was anything Dean was good at, it was going along with a situation while playing pretend.

And while this wasn't a case or job, if he treated it like it was, it could provide a well practiced detachment that would get him through it until he knew just how he should feel about it.

He followed a moment after to go into the house and walk to the kitchen, rapping his knuckles on the door-frame to catch their attention. Sure enough, Kate and John were sitting at the table with a coffee pot in between them and looking a bit too emotional for Dean's liking. It was because they shared a single night, and now a kid, nothing more than that. He didn't think he could handle anything else it could possibly be.

"Dad, I thought I'd take Adam out for a bit. You know, hang out around town a little," he informed him. Not really bothering to ask permission, but just informing him. It was common for Dean to take Sam and get him out of the way during a hunt or investigation, much more when they'd been younger, but still. He didn't figure it would be any issue to do the same with Adam.

"Oh, I don't know," Kate said, immediately looking worried. "He did just meet you both and-"

"It'll be alright. Dean's very responsible," John assured her, patting her hand gently. Yet another thing Dean was just going to ignore. It meant nothing. It meant nothing. It meant nothing. If he repeated the mantra enough times it might even become true. "He's great at looking after kids, and he has his own cell phone. We can get in contact with him in just a second if you need to. Besides, it'll give us time to catch up."

"Well... I suppose," she sighed out before folding her hands around her cup. "Just don't wander too far, okay?"

It felt a little weird to be given such advice, such a mom thing to say. He could only nod his head and give a little, "Yes, ma'am," in response. It almost felt ironic that she'd be worried about going out for some fun of all things, considering what he did in his line of work.

Then again… maybe Dad wasn't the only one worried about possible danger. They were two strangers after all. Trusting him with her kid might not be all that easy for her. Weird, it hadn't even occurred to him just now how she might take it, so used to just grabbing Sammy and leaving without even thinking about it.

"Hey, Dad, before I head out can I grab you for a second?" he asked, the real reason he needed to talk to John before he left. The older hunter nodded before excusing himself and leaving the kitchen with him. "So what's the story here? Car mechanics from Kansas? What did you tell her all those years ago?"

"We didn't talk much," he admitted with a shrug. "But yes, that's the story. Keep it as close to the truth as possible without getting into the obvious."

"And Mom?" he pressed.

"She died. No details," John replied shortly with a deep-set frown.

That was easy enough. Dean never felt like talking about his mother on the best of days anyway. Any time Sammy had ever brought her up he'd shut it down fast. If it came up he'd just avoid the topic. As long as their story was straight then Dean was fine with it. Just getting caught up in a lie because the two of them hadn't collaborated their story was a rookie mistake that he had no intention of making just because he was off kilter due to this whole situation.

He wanted to ask something else, what the plan was, what they were going to do after this but he couldn't bring the words past his lips. Right now it would just be best to leave it to his dad and find out the rest later on.

When Adam got back downstairs, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, Kate immediately went to him, smoothing down his hair with a smile.

"Hey honey, you going to go have fun?" she asked him, to which he nodded. There wasn't a smile on his face though, and Dean couldn't help but notice he kept looking over at John with a hopeful and curious expression.

"Are you going to ask him to stay?" he asked softly, a hopeful grin spreading on his lips.

"Oh Adam. That's not… We're just… Honey, we'll talk about that later, okay?" she said, getting another nod from him, this one much more enthusiastic. "Be careful, okay? And call if you need to. Dean has a cellphone you can borrow."

She gave him a kiss on the forehead before hugging him tightly. Dean already felt too raw for the scene and it caused him to ache in ways he didn't feel at all comfortable with. When she finally let him go, Adam rushed up to his side and looked up to him.

"So where you want to go? I know all sorts of places around here," he said, suddenly very animated. "You're going to love this town, promise."

The attempts were see-through beyond belief, but he could only assume Adam thought he was being very slick. Wanted to show off the place to make it seem enticing, as if that was all it took to get people to stay. Well, he was just a kid. He probably did think it was that easy, didn't get why all these years his mother had avoided making the call, knowing the ending would disappoint her boy.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starved," he said, not seeing a reason to correct the assumption. The kid would learn that all soon enough anyway. "Know any good places around here to eat?"

"Sure! Come on, Dean."

The kid went out the door, already seeming to be much more relaxed now. Dean had to admit, he was kind of curious himself about all of this, how it was going to work out. He supposed that he couldn't blame the kid for desiring a hopeful outcome for himself.

"So, it's just you and your mom?" Dean asked the kid. "Any other family around?"

"No, just us," he said with a shake of his head. "Mom doesn't have any brothers and sisters, and both my grandparents passed when I was just a kid."

Dean wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean. Adam was still a kid, but he didn't comment on it.

"How far is this place you want to eat?"

"Cousin Oliver's," he replied. "Mom and I go for lunch every Sunday after church. It's about a mile or so from here. It's got a pretty good egg scrambler, and great burgers, though mom always gets a salad for some reason."

"Alright. You can give me directions while I drive."

"Drive?" Adam asked him with an arched eyebrow. "Why?"

"Cause it's over a mile away," the man supplied but Adam just shrugged and turned away from him, heading down the sidewalk, apparently trusting Dean would just follow.

"That's just a waste of gas. Mom and I never drive anywhere unless we have to. Waste of money," the kid called over his shoulder. "Besides, it's good exercise. Come on."

Dean would have made mention that he didn't really worry about things like money, but it made him wonder why a kid like Adam was so conscious of it. Was Kate hard up for cash or something? Then again… a house would have a mortgage and Dean knew from first-hand experience how much growing kids could need to eat. Both he and Sam had gone through tons of food when they'd been Adam's age, growing faster than the meals could keep up with sometimes. Dean had worried a lot about money before Dad had given up on the few part-time jobs he could find and honesty, instead just deciding that ripping off credit card companies was a lot better than risking the health of his kids.

Looks like Adam spent a lot of his own time worrying about it too.

He put his car keys back in his pocket and followed after the kid, falling into step with him. He was in his territory right now, best to play by the rules Adam was comfortable with.

It was still early, not a lot of people out and about. An older man watering his lawn, a couple of kids playing that the boy took the time to wave to, but otherwise it felt like the whole world was just the two of them. Dean tried to think of something to say, though he was coming up with a complete blank. Talking with Sam was always so easy, even at the time they bickered or argued, which hadn't been all that often. Sam fought more with their dad, and while he had the occasional rude snipe to make Dean's way about taking his side in the arguments, for the most part they'd been great. It was easy to take him aside and distract him, offer him to go out and look up at the stars or share a soda.

Where he was supposed to start with Adam, and what even was the end goal?

He hadn't found anything to say on the walk there, not until they were sitting down at the diner. While Adam ordered breakfast, he just the same thing, the scrambler the boy had spoken of. Adam wolfed down his food, eating quickly and gulping down the orange juice that he'd ordered with it.

"Want more?" Dean asked him with a bit of an amused smirk. He hadn't even gotten halfway through his meal with the speed the boy had consumed the food.

Adam looked hesitant, his cheeks a little pink.

"I'm not… uh," he said before Dean just waved the waitress over.

"What's your favorite kind of pie?" he asked him.

"I like blueberry," he admitted.

"The blueberry pie," Dean told the waitress.

"A slice for you too?" she asked him.

"No, sweetheart. The whole thing, and a couple extra plates," he informed her with a sly wink.

Adam stared at him in surprise as the waitress nodded and went to grab what had been asked for, clearly shocked by the order.

"You're getting me a whole pie?"

"Hell no. I'm getting us a whole pie," he snorted with a smile. "We're sharing, but you have as much as you want."

"I'm not sure mom would want me to have that much sugar..." the boy said, looking slightly apprehensive but Dean just chuckled.

"I won't tell if you won't."

The pie arrived along with their fresh plates, and that seemed to be good enough reasoning for Adam, quickly digging into the crust to get himself a large slice and then allowing Dean to grab some of the dessert as well. It was pretty good too, still warm from being freshly baked, gooey on the fork, and with a fluffy crust. A moan escaped him as he took a bite, making a mental note to order another one of a different flavor for later.

"So what do you do for fun around here?" he asked as they ate, the shared dessert making him feel much less apprehensive about a simple conversation. "Places you and your friends hang out? Bet you run all over the place on summers like this."

"There's an ice ring that my mom has me signed up for lessons," he explained. "Since she's a nurse she volunteers there at times in exchange for a discount. It's closed until noon though, and my class isn't until another couple of days. I hang out at the park a lot too. She takes me… on her day off."

"Sounds like she works pretty hard, huh?"

"I guess. It's fine though. She knows she can trust me to watch the house," Adam said, jutting his chin out a bit in pride. "We handle that stuff as a team."

"What kind of stuff?" he asked curiously.

"Normal stuff. You know, getting dinner made and getting the bills paid. She shouldn't have to get up early just to make something to eat, so I just do it for her so she can eat and then head out the door. It's a lot easier, and when she gets home she can just leave the money out for me so I can get the money orders made and mail them out. Oh, before I forget, I should get back before lunch. I'm going to need to get the dishes done after she eats so she can clean up and go to bed. Though… I dunno. Maybe she'll take the night off so she and Dad can keep talking. I think she still has some vacation time she can use so it shouldn't affect the paycheck."

Dean was struck dumb by hearing all that. He didn't even know why. It wasn't like he had not himself dealt with such responsibilities when he'd been a child, John trusting him with similar things because he couldn't handle them himself, but the way Adam spoke so nonchalantly about it, like it was something he had long since gotten used to…

Kate wasn't out fighting monsters, wasn't out in the horrors of the supernatural. She was dealing with something a lot more down to earth and seemingly real. There were no werewolves, ghosts or boggarts in their lives, just bills to pay and overnight shifts to work to keep her kid clothed and cared for. Dean didn't know why she had never called to ask for help. Did she think she wouldn't get it? Had she been worried there wouldn't be a willing father who would come back and chip in, offer to babysit at times at the very least? Had she been scared she'd get no sympathy from the man she'd spent a weekend with, or had she been scared he wouldn't have wanted to have anything to do with the kid and was trying to shield Adam from that?

It wasn't like she didn't have reason to worry. Hell, maybe John had talked to her all those years ago, explained to her that he needed to hit the road and would not be able to come back. Maybe he hadn't even said anything, just leaving without a word and had she had just come to her own conclusions. It wasn't like Dean himself hadn't pulled the sneak out the door while the chick was asleep routine himself. To have ended up alone like that, only to find out maybe a month later she had a kid on the way, no way that could have been easy on her.

Then again, hadn't she said something about knowing John had his own life somewhere else and hadn't planned on messing with that? Maybe he had laid down a pretty firm explanation why he was never going to come back to visit her, that what they'd shared had been it.

Just what had these two gone through together over the years? Was their team just a polite way of saying it was them alone against the world?

It might just stay that way. No matter what Adam was clearly hoping for, it was not going to happen. Their dad was too driven for revenge, to find and kill the thing that had attacked Mary. It would maybe be a day or two, a week tops before the next hunt came along and the two of them had to leave to continue their mission. There wasn't a single promise that Dean could give him that would help at all, that would make anything better. The honorable thing might be to stay, to help out and give some kind of support. It wouldn't matter in the long run. What difference would it make? Offer to babysit once or twice, buy him an extra meal or two, or buy Adam pajamas that fit?

Before long they'd be gone again, and who even knew where they'd be in the next month?

"Enjoy your pie," he instructed as he stood up. "I'm going to go make a phone call real quick. I'll be right back."

"Uh, sure. Did I eat too much of the pie?" he asked, looking up at him with a trace of worry on his face, but Dean just forced himself to smile and shake his head.

"Nah, it's fine. You eat all you want to, kid. Be right back," he said to him before heading out.

The bell of the door chimed as he walked out, rounding the corner to get some privacy. He pulled out his phone and flipped it open, hesitating before he dialed in the number he'd had memorized since he was a little kid.

It rang a few times before he heard someone answer.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Pastor Jim," he sighed out. "It's me, Dean."

"Dean, how are you?"

"I'm… I'm not sure," he admitted. "Something's going on."

"A hunt?"

"No, nothing like that. It's something else," he said. "I don't want to get into details but it's nothing dangerous, don't worry about that. Dad and I are fine, but listen… I'm a couple hours out from Blue Earth. Is it alright if I come by tonight? I might come in late."

"Of course. You know John and you are always welcome here."

"No… it's… it's just going to be me," he confessed.

"Dean, what's going on? What happened?"

He wasn't even sure how to answer that question. He didn't do things like this, sneak off without his dad knowing about it, making plans to take off without him. There was no way he wanted him in on this though, needing to talk to someone about everything going on inside of his head without worrying about what his dad would do or say about it.

"I need some advice," he confessed. "It's one of those things that's better said face-to-face though, you know? Trust me, everything is fine, danger-wise anyway. It's just… I'm kind of feeling a little lost right now and you're the closet person right now."

Getting to Bobby, or even Caleb right now would take a whole lot longer, and skipping out for a few hours was a lot different than being gone for a day or so. He'd just tell John he was going out for a drive and then be back before morning even hit. It would help him clear his head, because even if this wasn't a hunt, he needed a clear head for this. It felt every bit as dangerous as one after all, like he was walking a minefield and any second something unexpected was going to blow up in his face.

"Alright, Dean. I'll keep the lights on for you. Come by whenever you can and we'll talk. Be careful on the road."

"I will be, thanks," he said before he hung up.

Blue Earth was less than a hundred miles from here, and Pastor Jim was an understanding guy. He didn't pass judgment, didn't scold or yell or talk about damnation for sinners, not like a lot of other God obsessed wackjobs. He'd just listen to Dean, let him get it all off of his chest, maybe offer some friendly advice. For the most part though, he'd just do his best to understand and then help Dean through it. It wouldn't be the first time either, when Dean felt a little too lost to keep going and had needed someone to just vent to.

He'd been the one he'd gone to about Sam, after Bobby anyway. They'd both helped a lot, told him that no matter what happened Sam was his brother and the boy did care about him. He'd needed space, like a lot of boys his age did, and it would all work out in the end. It had helped Dean keep sane over the idea of losing his brother, convinced him that Sam would eventually come back of his own free will when Dean had been imagining just heading out there and dragging him back by his hair if he'd had to. If he was lucky, more sage advice would be waiting for him again.

For now, he tucked his phone back into his pocket and made his way back into the diner, sitting down in front of Adam.

"You full?" he asked, seeing there was still some of the pie left.

"It's for you," he said with a shrug. "I didn't want to eat more than my half."

"Huh. Well, thanks," he said, grabbing some more for himself. "Next time though, grab as much as you want. Trust me, I can more than cover it."

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Well… then before we go back… can we hit the arcade? It's… it's kind of pricey, only a birthday thing but if you want to maybe we can..."

Dean opened his wallet and slapped a fifty on the table, making Adam's eyes go wide at the sight of it.

"Go run this off to the waitress, and tell her the rest is her tip," he said nonchalantly, knowing that the two orders of breakfast and pie would only be about half of what he'd just laid out. "I'll finish eating while you do."

Okay, so maybe getting the kid food or new clothes or whatever would only be a temporary fix. Maybe Kate was smart to have never called, knowing deep down John wouldn't stick around, could not be what Adam wanted as a permanent dad. Maybe in a few days or a week they would be gone, and the kid would have to be fed some kind of lie about why they would not be back for a while… if they even came back at all.

Maybe this was all just a band-aid on a wound way too deep, something that couldn't fix this so easily. The solution was short-term at best, and who even knew what the long-term answer would be, if there even was one. Dean didn't know what else to do though, where to even start, but he did know one thing.

When it came to family, John tried his damn best. True he couldn't always be there, but he never gave up. Even when he came back late, he came back. There'd never been a missed Christmas, never a time when he came back he didn't take the boys in his arms and hug them both. As they'd gotten older the fights had started and had gotten worse quick, but Dean knew his dad loved his family, even if the world took too much of him to allow him to show it properly at times.

So Dean would do what he always did. He'd be responsible. He'd help by taking up the slack.

Now if only he could figure out just how he was supposed to do that, he'd be golden.

For now though, well clearly he just had to spoil the kid rotten. He had over ten years worth of birthdays to make up for after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, it feels so good to get back to this. Like Dean, I sadly didn't have a long-term plan for this story at first but now I've got an idea just where to take it. With luck, it'll be good places that you guys will be able to enjoy.
> 
> Oh, one thing I should mention before anyone questions the Christmas thing. Something Dean mentions is that their dad always is there for Christmas, reassuring Sam the guy would come back. Next thing we see there are gifts that Dean had gotten, well stolen really. Thing is, it's still dark out, I'm thinking pretty early Christmas morning. It's my own personal headcanon that John did get back later, having the whole day to arrive and they did spend it as a family. After all, no mention was made how he never made it, and while it's clear they hadn't celebrated holidays for a while at that point I think efforts were clearly still made when they'd been kids. I just wanted to mention that before anyone asked about it in the comments.
> 
> Anyway, sorry again this took a while, and I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter.


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